Author Archives: Landstones

July has not brought with it the weather we all wanted but in the lettings market it has brought a wealth of positivity and an abundance of activity. Traditionally a very strong month for the lettings market, this year we really did not know what to expect, however July transactions levels have stayed consistent with those of previous years.

The flurry of activity in the market has largely been driven by many applicants changing the way they live and changing the priorities in their lives. Outside space and home offices have jumped up the priority list with people adjusting to new ways of working and new styles of living.

Following on from the post lockdown June market, July has seen stock levels in the rental market at record highs which has been putting some downward pressure on the achieved prices in the sector. The current high stock level is giving applicants far wider choice with the average tenant now viewing over 20 properties before making an offer. The wider choice available for tenants will caused many landlords to think long and hard before rejecting a good tenant with few requests and a swift move in date for the hope of higher rent from an alternative applicant.

Price sensitivity is now the enduring theme in the market and with more choice landlords need to make sure they are getting the very best advice from a local agent that knows the market inside out. With over 40 years local market knowledge Landstones are perfectly positioned to help landlords secure a good tenant and to guide those in need of a little assistance through this more challenging market. Everyone at Landstones is committed to working harder for our clients than any other agency out there in order for us to help you achieve the most from your property.

The lettings market has continued at a frenetic pace after the lifting of restrictions on physical viewings nearly six weeks ago. There is now a real buzz in the lettings market with both landlords and tenants in a highly focused period of action. Confidence in the sector and market sentiment remain high and strong in a period of uncertainty and market upheaval.

Tenants are eager for quality and with higher stock levels than normal at this time of year they’re using their collective power to seek out the very best deals. Many landlords have recognised the increased competition and are taking proactive steps to make sure their properties are in top show condition in order to capitalise and secure a very good tenant. Landlords with stand out properties in the market are able to secure good tenants for a tenancy period that suits their particular portfolio needs best.

As economic uncertainty slowly moves into market recovery in the housing market, many potential buyers are watching with increased intensity for any signs that this should be the time to enter the market. This period always spells a boom for the lettings sector as many buyers choose a rental option for one or two years while they make a strategic decision as to buy or not to buy at the current time.

We at Landstones see no reason for the huge spike in demand for rental property to slow in the next few months. We have also seen a spike in enquires coming through our corporate relocation team as many companies rush to get offices and staff reorganised into the new economic and working landscape.

In other market news:

We have now seen the introduction into the lettings market of the (‘’EICR’’) or Electrical Installation Condition Report. This new legislation states that all tenancies and renewals commencing on or after the 1^st of July 2020 must have a satisfactory EICR in place before the tenancy or any renewal starts. The EICR lasts for five years and now sits alongside the Gas Safety Certificate which are both presented to the tenant at the beginning of the tenancy.

For more information on the EICR you can contact our management team, or for a helpful link see:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electrical-safety-standards-in-the-private-rented-sector-guidance-for-landlords-tenants-and-local-authorities/guide-for-landlords-electrical-safety-standards-in-the-private-rented-sector#introduction

If you have a property that you would like us to market please do not hesitate to get in touch, we have a huge number of very serious tenants looking for quality rental property at the moment.

Tenants and Landlords burst out of lockdown as the market starts to rebuild. We have seen a huge surge in both tenant registrations and the levels of new stock coming back to the market in the last 10 days. As lockdown restrictions start to gradually lift, many people have shown that they’re willing and eager to get on with their daily lives and start to get back to the status quo.

Landlords with vacant properties or tenancies coming to an end have been eager to get them back on the market and to see viewings start coming back through the door. Rightmove, Zoopla and many other portals are now reporting high levels of new listings and many agents have been seeing extremely high levels of stock.

With life slowly beginning to return to normal, or rather the new normal, applicant numbers have been rising fast also. Applicants are now happy, with appropriate precautions in place, to start to visit properties again, this is allowing many applicants who were keen to find a new home but were reluctant to take a property from a video or virtual tour to fully commit to their new property.

With the vast majority of estate agents still closed or only partially open, Landstones are experiencing one of the busiest months on record. Despite the press coverage and predicted doom and gloom, the market is buoyant and very busy. Our message to landlords is, with higher stock levels and more to choose from for tenants, if you get a good offer from a suitable tenant to grab on with both hands. Our message to tenants is to find a good property quickly before things start to get scarce again, stock numbers are artificially high and will soon return to normal as the good deals get hoovered up.

With the current lockdown and most of the world in quarantine, our daily lives and routines have changed dramatically in many ways. For the vast majority of people, to an unrecognisable extent. The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we all interact and the way companies work, if it‘s even possible for them to do any business at all, for many industries and sectors this is not the case.

Extreme circumstances often breed extreme solutions and the property market seems to be no different. In a world of ever-increasing connectivity and ever more integration, we have now been forced to separate ourselves. The property market has quickly evolved and adapted to this new landscape and has embraced the concept of online viewings.

Making videos of our properties has allowed us to keep working hard for our landlords and give them access to tenants who, for obvious reasons, cannot physically attend the property to view. For those tenants who are still desperate to move and secure their next home during this period, of which we are finding there are numerous cases, our video viewings give a 365 degree walk through of any property allowing our tenants to select a property with 100% confidence they have all the information they require.

Of course, this would never replace the conventional face to face viewings that gives everyone a feeling of security and personal relationship which is so important in any tenancy transaction. Hence why, here at Landstones, we can’t wait to show you our properties in person again!

We can safely say we’re now experiencing stranger times; this is very much unchartered territory for the property market and the economy as a whole. With the government forced into taking the extraordinary measures to put the sales market on pause, this has left many potential buyers in limbo or scrabbling to secure alternative accommodation for either short or longer term alternatives. The good news is that it seems this unforeseen demand has helped keep some life flowing through the lettings market, putting the brakes on the slowdown in the sector and lessening the harshness many had anxiously anticipated.

At Landstones, we’ve spent the last two weeks in conversation and consultation with our landlords assessing how we can reduce the impact of Covid-19 on their properties and portfolios. Many people have questions and concerns which we’re trying to answer and give support wherever we can. Whilst no one can know the true extent of the impact until after this virus has passed, we’re confident that with diligent hard work we’ll be able to minimise its effect.

With the help of the modern technology we all seem to take for granted these days, it can almost be ‘business as usual’ under the government’s lockdown measures. With agents unable to conduct viewings as easily as before, and many tenants and landlords self-isolating inside their properties, we’ve had to be creative and look for alternative measures to help. Some very useful technology we’ve found has been the Zoom app for conference calls. It allows entire families to chat altogether at one time, enabling decision making a quick and easy process. On Facetime we can send virtual property videos for use in viewings or valuations and WhatsApp allows the simple transfer of large file photos and floor plans. Document signature applications like DocuSign are available to send and receive virtual signature contracts. All these incredible forms of technology mean that whilst we may find ourselves in a new way of working, for those willing to adapt and make the most of an onerous situation there is business to be done.

We should take some comfort in the thought that property demand has not gone away long term from both tenants and landlords. Although the market finds itself in a temporary pause, once lockdown measures have been lifted, we may well see all unsatisfied demand explode back into life. We may even see one of the busiest lettings months on record. We’re predicting three months’ equivalent of lettings deals tied up in a single hot summer’s month.

Here at Landstones we are aiming to bring you a monthly insight into the current trends in prime central London lettings market. The lettings market is facing a turbulent time with several pieces of new government legislation having been enacted in 2019 and more coming into force in 2020.

One of the biggest changes from 2019 was the tenant fee ban which applies to new or renewed tenancy agreements signed on or after 1 June 2019. The aim of the Act is to reduce the costs that tenants can face at the outset, and throughout, a tenancy. This does away with referencing fees and tenancy agreement administration fees for most AST agreements designed to make renting cheaper for tenants.

One ongoing piece of legislation which may seem like old news, but it’s an ongoing saga that continues to affect landlords across the country is Mortgage interest tax relief. As of the end of 2019 landlords will only be able to claim 25% of finance costs, with the remaining 75% restricted to the basic rate of taxation.

The combination of the mass of new and existing legislation has had a restricting effect on the supply of rental stock in the market, which through January and February of 2020 have seen prices rise across the board from studios to 1-bedroom flats and all the way through to large family homes.

Here at Landstones we pride ourselves on doing what is best for our clients and looking after our tenants. We offer the best stock and the very highest level of service.